Bar brawl turns fatal

Evanston man gunned down at Keg

June 20, 2005|By Chicago Tribune.

A man was shot and killed early Sunday in an Evanston bar where dozens of Northwestern University students were celebrating graduation, police said.

A fight broke out shortly before 2 a.m. between several patrons of The Keg of Evanston, 810 Grove St., Deputy Police Chief Joe Bellino said. Robert Gresham, 22, of the 1300 block of McDaniel Avenue, Evanston, died when one of the men involved in the fight pulled out a handgun and shot him, Bellino said.

Gresham, who did not attend Northwestern, was taken to St. Francis Hospital, where he was pronounced dead, Bellino said.

No charges had been filed, and no suspects were in custody Sunday evening, Evanston Sgt. Joseph Wazny said. Police declined to comment further on the case.

"I want to know what role liquor played in this," said Morton, who is also Evanston's liquor commissioner.

Handguns are banned in Evanston, and Morton said she was dismayed that a patron brought one into the bar.

"Nobody in Evanston has any business with a gun, let alone shooting anyone," she said. "If someone went in there with a gun, they went in there to use it."

The Keg's owners could not be reached for comment Sunday. The bar remained dark Sunday afternoon, as officers from the North Regional Major Crimes Task Force searched for evidence.

About 60 students from Northwestern's Kellogg School of Management gathered Saturday night at the Keg to cap off graduation festivities, said graduate Ryan Pettibone, 27.

"We were all saying our goodbyes, getting ready to leave within a couple minutes" when they heard a shot fired, Pettibone said. "We hit the floor pretty quickly."

After the students recovered, some thought the sound had been a balloon popping, and they continued laughing and talking, Pettibone said.

Then patrons began running from the dance floor to the front of the bar, and an employee announced the shooting over the Keg's intercom, he said. The bar draws a mixed crowd, from graduate students to high schoolers, said Evanston resident Jane Buerger, 19.

While police sometime stop by to check for underage drinkers, she said, they rarely have to break up fights.

Morton said the Keg has had problems in the past with underage drinkers.

Relatives and friends clustered outside Gresham's home Sunday, many saying they were too upset to comment. Others said the Evanston Township High School graduate and father of a 4-month-old girl was well-liked and unlikely to be a target. Neighbor Michael Hardin, 22, who went to elementary school with Gresham, said he knew his friend hadn't started the fight.

"He didn't go out looking for trouble," Hardin said. "This shooting was in no way gang-related; not drug-related or anything like that. We know it wasn't anger on Bob's part."

Gresham had "little beefs" with some acquaintances, but "nothing big," said neighbor Michael Clifton, 26.

Gresham had been charged with several misdemeanors in recent years, including battery and drug possession, according to Cook County court records. Most of the charges were eventually dropped.